


A Choice

by kiranightshade



Series: The Crossroad [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Peter, Alternate Season/Series 01, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Stiles takes the Bite, Werewolf Culture, Werewolf Mates, Werewolf Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 10:55:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8976808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiranightshade/pseuds/kiranightshade
Summary: When Peter is given a chance...





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This will be the beginning of a series, but don't expect much because my steter secret santa piece is top priority at the moment.

Time slows as Peter draws his wrist closer. His hold is gentle and Stiles would almost say reverent. Peter closes his eyes and seems absolutely content to simply nuzzle Stiles’ wrist while he waits for an answer. Stiles takes all this in and thinks, this is truly what Peter considers a gift. If Stiles were to refuse he has little doubt Peter would let him go. Peter would saunter back into his stolen car and leave Stiles without so much of a hair out of place. Stiles thinks back on everything Peter has done these past months. He essentially bite-raped Scott, but Stiles knows now that Peter was feral and desperate. A lone wolf fighting for survival in a barren world. 

 

If roles were reversed, Stiles ponders how he would have reacted to all the new instincts and power and a strange man claiming authority over him. He imagines he would have been scared. Scared of a new world at first and then of the murders but then he would be angry. He never did well with authority like that. But...but once he discovered Peter’s motives he would likely have reacted the same as he did in reality. If a bunch of self-righteous bigots killed his family, he would burn worlds for justice. He won’t think of what he would do if what few survived abandoned him to rot, vulnerable and alone. 

 

Stiles feels the air shift as Peter inhales and thinks back on his little sales pitch. Its true. A traitorous part of Stiles wishes to be as good as Scott and have the popularity every teenager fights for at some point in their high school career, but that part is small and easily ignored because the rational part of him knows such things are fleeting and insignificant, nothing to change your entire world for. And Stiles thinks Peter knows it too. He said those things because he is still desperate for pack. He wants Stiles but hasn’t paid close enough attention to know it’s the pack aspect he should be pitching instead of power. Stiles has done a lot of research and if werewolf packs are anything like wolf packs then a pack is more than power. It’s family and security and everything they both crave. It’s trust and companionship. And that sounds a hell of a lot better than a grab at the cool kid table for a few years. Pack is forever and Stiles thinks that that would be worth turning for. But there is still Peter to consider. The man is still insane from his trauma even if he has visibly improved. He will have to earn his title if Stiles is to accept him as his alpha.

 

So, he snatches his arm back from Peter’s loose grip and, with as much venom as he could muster, spits out, “No, I don’t want to be like you.”

 

With bated breath, Stiles watches Peter’s reaction. This is a pass/fail test and, as far as Stiles is concerned, if Peter can’t handle this rejection then he has no business leading a pack.

 

Disappointment mars his features but he doesn’t reach for Stiles again. Hope begins to grow when Peter calls him on his lie but still turns to the car as if to leave. Stiles’ lips curve and, before Peter can close the door, calls out to him.

 

“don’t forget Peter”-Peter stills- “not to get lost in your rage. Only kill the ones responsible. And that the best revenge is to stand strong in spite of the ones who would tear you down.”

 

“I’m hardly a martyr Stiles.”

 

“Be sure to keep it that way. I don’t want to see you die tonight.” With that Stiles takes his leave. He doesn’t see the shock in Peter’s rigid figure, or the fascination in his eyes. 

 

Stiles should really go make sure Lydia made it to the hospital all right. He hears the rumble of an engine before Peter passes him on his way to Derek and what Stiles predicts to be a crossroads for all of them.


	2. Chapter 2

Lydia is alive, Jackson is a dumbass, and Chris is willfully blind to his psychotic family. Stiles would pity him if he had any pity to spare for an Argent. Either way, they all end up at the Hale house together. Kate is rotting away inside, Allison is traumatized, Scott’s got a glint in his eye Stiles doesn’t like, Derek is looking a little worse for wear, Jackson is off to the side being useless, and Peter is standing in the middle of it all fully transformed into a truly monstrous beast. In this moment, he is crazed and furious. Kate is dead; so now what? Will he go after the Argents? Take out their family like what was done to him; remove the immediate threat? Or will he lose himself to madness and attack indiscriminately, start with whomever is closest and not stop until he sees his family again?

Stiles locks eyes with Peter and knows that Peter is asking himself every one of those questions. Movement catches Stiles’ eye and suddenly he feels sharp nails against his throat, warm pressure wrapped around his waist, and an enormous, rumbling chest pressed to his back.

Stiles freezes.

Allison has her crossbow drawn and pointed directly at him. No, not at him, at Peter. Peter, who is currently holding him hostage. Scott is growling bloody murder but Stiles finds he isn’t afraid. He’s not entirely sure why, but he doesn’t believe Peter wants to hurt him. Confidence growing, Stiles is certain Peter will not harm him. Nobody else knows though and Stiles isn’t about to say any different.

They all see a monster. A rabid dog off his leash and Stiles is the only thing standing between Peter and death. Maybe he could still get away, but even then he would be injured, weak, and alone. Stiles doesn’t want that.

Evening his breath, Stiles leans into the arms of the wolf. Nobody else notices but Peter tenses for a brief moment and then everyone notices Peter pick Stiles up, cradle him close, and break into a dead sprint deeper into the woods.

It takes a few seconds to recover from the whiplash of an alpha’s speed. Stiles clings tighter to Peter as the sounds of who he assumes to be Scott chasing after them fades into nothing. 

Eventually, Peter slows to a stop in a small cave and gently sets Stiles down next to him. He is still largely cocooned by Peter’s mass. One of his arms remain around his back, causing them to stay leaning towards each other. Stiles doesn’t fight. Partly because he’s cold but mostly because, as sure as he is of his relative safety, he still isn’t sure how much of Peter is still there. He doesn’t want to accidentally reject him.

A single claw tilts his head up like it did a lifetime ago over Lydia’s body, and it’s just as gentle as it was then. If not more so since now Stiles isn’t anywhere near as tense. He looks into eyes still burning red but they’re softer now. Calmer. Warm breath washes over Stiles and he chuckles. That seems to relax Peter somewhat so Stiles decides to blow cold air into Peter’s face in retaliation. Peter actually jerks back and that makes Stiles laugh. Giant wolf-man or not Peter looks like a startled puppy. Stiles is sure to tell Peter so and that makes the alpha scoff in response. This is definitely the strangest interaction Stiles has ever had in his lifetime.

Peter shifts back into human form as naked as the day he was born. 

“Dude”, Stiles squawks.

Bemused, Peter remarks, “Humans and your concepts of decency will never cease to amuse me.” 

“Ohmygod, just…shift back and take me home. Nobody will be looking for you there.”

“No”, Peter growls, his eyes flash before he schools his features back into a relative calm. Nevertheless, the claws resting on Stiles’ shoulder and jaw remind him that Peter is still packless and his control is tenuous at best.

“Hey, okay. That’s fine. We’ll just stay in the cold as fuck cave in the middle of nowhere until someone sends my father, the sheriff, after us because in case you forgot. This is a kidnapping. You kidnapped me. And hey, I get it, despite how it looked to everyone else I did come willingly. But that doesn’t change the fact that we can’t stay here.”

Stiles would like to point out that he in no way ever claimed to have any sense of self-preservation.

“And that means I should go to the sheriff’s house with his son who, as you’ve so helpfully pointed out, I just took hostage.” Now Peter is looking at him like maybe he isn’t as clever as he thought. Which, rude. Stiles is very clever thank you very much. 

Huffing indignantly, Stiles continues, “If not my house then maybe somewhere where any self-respecting werewolf couldn’t track us.”

Peter is giving Stiles a strange look. The kind of look one gives when they just can’t figure someone out. Like he is trying to pick him apart and find what exactly makes him tick. Stiles squirms under it and notices just how close they are to each other. They never really separated completely but now they may as well be cuddling. Stiles is leaning more into Peter’s side than the wall behind them. The hand that was holding his jaw is now resting on his knee. Peter has even begun to rub his thumb through his fuzz behind his ear in his contemplation.

“You’re being very helpful for a hostage”, Peter hums inquisitively.

Stiles frowns, “I told you. I don’t want to see you die tonight.”

“Hmm, yes you did say that didn’t you. And why, pray tell, would you care if the big bad wolf were to suddenly fade into the void. I am the one who dragged you into this after all. Most would be pretty angry with me.”

“Nobody dragged me anywhere. I stood by Scott on my own. I helped him resist an insane man’s influence of my own volition. It was my idea to come out here in the first place that night. But even if I were to use your logic, you’re nowhere near the same man who bit Scott. You’re not completely sane but you’re not feral like you were. I think that with a little support you could continue to get better. Even become a good alpha. Not to Scott, I should mention. He is dead set on you being the villain and there is no changing his mind with things like this. But that aside, I have decided you’re not a lost cause. So there. That’s why I don’t want you to die tonight. I haven’t given up on you.” Stiles takes a breath and waits for Peter’s reaction. He looks dazed. Like Stiles’ word vomit just turned his world view inside out and now he needs a minute to process. He blinks. He blinks again. And then he opens his mouth. Closes it. Tries to find the right words until, “You said no.”

Stiles smiles a helpless little smile because despite everything those three words are incredibly endearing right then. 

“You listened.”

Peter seems to get it then and chuckles because this boy is so clever. And so much braver than he first thought. This boy who traps and taunts enraged alphas. This boy who fights for his friends like any born wolf would for their pack. This boy who looks an alpha werewolf in the eye and tells him no just to see what would happen. This boy is…” Magnificent.” It’s barely a sigh but it echoes off the walls of the cave. Stiles flushes and suddenly Peter very much wants to know how far down that blush goes. All in good time though. Now they need to decide where to go from here because Stiles is right in that they can’t stay here for too long. 

“My nurse had an apartment.”

Stiles laments the idea of using a dead woman’s home but agrees it’s the best they can do. This time when Peter shifts Stiles gets to ride on his back. He isn’t sure how Peter did it but they manage to get to the apartment building without being seen. Luckily her apartment is also on the first floor so they don’t have to worry about anyone reporting a nude man walking about the complex with a well-known teenager. That would not have been good. 

Stiles darts to the shower before Peter has fully closed the door. Being dragged around everywhere leaves you covered in dirt and grime. Who knew? He feels a bit guilty using a dead woman’s things but not enough to not use her body wash. Isn’t like she’s gonna need it anyway. Pragmatic thy name is Stiles. By the time stiles is dried and dressed- in his dirty clothes because apparently a single woman’s apartment is not abundant in teenage boy sized clothing- the apartment is filled with the smell of french toast. Lo and behold, turn the corner and there is Peter setting down two plates next to each other at the kitchen island. 

Stiles takes a seat and says, “It’s not exactly time for breakfast food.”

“Nonsense, it is always time for breakfast food. Now eat up and tell me how good a cook I am.” Peter smirks as he sits beside him. Stiles’ laughter breaks into a moan as he takes the first bite only to devour the sugary perfection laid before him. “Forget everything I ever said ever. Marry me right now and feed me this every day.” 

Peter chuckles, “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

Peter finishes at a more sedate pace. By the time the dishes were left drying, they both were dead tired and thought nothing of just tumbling into the single bedroom together. They laid in silence for so long that Stiles jumped when Peter asked, “If I were to offer again, would you still say no?”

“I suppose that would depend on what exactly you’re offering.”, he whispers, heart calming but an underlying tension grows.

Peter is quiet for a long moment as he tries to find the right words. “I’d like to see you grow into what I expect will be something truly remarkable. I’d like to encourage that growth as your pack. Already you are a force to be reckoned with. I can only imagine what you could become.”

“What do you mean by that?” Stiles turns onto his side to face Peter and Peter takes the opportunity to cup Stiles’ cheek and run his thumb over his cheekbone. Marking him. Stiles isn’t quite sure in the dark but he thinks he sees Peter’s lips curve when he leans into the touch.

“Something very rare. Something many in our world believe to be a myth. A fairytale, if you like.” 

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Do you know who leads a pack?”

Stiles gives him a look but answers anyway, “The alpha.” 

Peter leans in so close that Stiles can make out the sincerity in his eyes when he corrects, “The alpha pair.”

Stiles’ breath hitches as realization crashes through him. Shock at what is being offered to him. Peter never wanted him to be his beta at all. Never wanted to put himself in a position of power over Stiles. Never wanted to be anything less than absolute equals.

“The alpha pairs are mated pairs aren’t they.”

“yes.”

“How serious is mating to a werewolf compared to an actual wolf.”

Peter smiles, “The courting and claiming of a mate is sacred. Impossible to force; taboo to interfere once accepted. Permanent in life…and death. What few are known to have survived the death of their mate are always scarred beyond recognition. Some go into a feral rage, others retreat into their mind and waste away. Such a bond is precious and near impossible to explain, or so I’ve heard.”

“And such a claiming would be…?”

“A bite. The place doesn’t matter so much as the intent but the wrist is traditional.”, Peter’s smile turns to a knowing smirk.

Stiles jerks upright, breaking Peter’s hold on him, and glares. “And you were going to tell me the significance before or after you bit me.” Quick as lightning, Peter has Stiles laying back on the bed, hands held over his head in one hand and cupping his cheek with the other. Stiles gasps and glares some more. Peter chuckles, “Weren’t you listening? I may have meant to start a bond without telling you but without your total consent it would have faded into nothing. The process is designed to require reciprocation.” Stiles relaxes and Peter releases his grip on Stiles’ hands to rest his elbow by Stiles’ head. “I’m actually finding myself pleased that you refused. Hearing you say yes will be so much sweeter when you know all of what you’re agreeing to.”

This time it’s Stiles who reaches up to cup Peter’s cheek. His hands slide back to play at the ends of Peter’s hair as Peter lets his other arm fall. Everything goes quiet save the sound of their breaths. Their noses brush and the tension permeating the room stands still as Stiles considers everything and Peter waits. “Ask me,” It’s barely a whisper but it is heard more clearly than if thunder had struck above their heads.

“Do”- a kiss to his brow- “you”-a kiss to his cheek- “want”-a kiss to his other cheek- “the”-a kiss to his nose- “bite.” Peter hovers over Stiles’ lips for a second before he’s pulled down into a sloppy, inexperienced, overeager, perfect kiss. It’s fast and messy but it’s Stiles and acceptance and mate. Peter slows it down. Takes control and Stiles melts into the tangle of tongues. 

The Yes echoes through every line in his body. Every action and reaction. Every kiss. Every strand of Peter’s hair tangled in Stiles’ fingers. Every bit of him that brings them closer. 

Peter breaks off and leaves a trail of bruising kisses down Stiles’ neck. Stiles whines when Peter rises up to his knees but settles when he realizes that he only did it to continue the trail down his right arm. By the time he reaches Stiles’ wrist his kisses have slowed from bites to bruises to pecks to heavy exhaling. Peter is staring at him now. Giving him one last chance to back out. Time has frozen once more only this time Peter’s eyes are glowing and his chest is heaving. This time Stiles doesn’t need to think it over because he finds himself needing Peter as much as Peter needs him. He didn’t expect to have made this decision so soon but he is learning to expect the unexpected.

Stiles looks the wolf in the eye.

He bares his wrist.

The wolf bites.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a slow build. They just weren't having it. Dammit.
> 
> Not that i think any of you are going to complain.

**Author's Note:**

> Do let me know if i missed any tags.


End file.
